Gunman running for council seat

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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Patrick McCullough at his home on 2/25/05 in Oakland, CA. McCullough has been single-handedly taking on drug dealers that ply their trade in front of his North Oakland home and was briefly arrested - but not charged - after shooting one of them in the arm.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
ALSO RAN 03/04/05
Ran on: 02-26-2005
Patrick McCullough says he's no vigilante, but when he was attacked by a group of men recently, he shot one of them in the arm. Ran on: 02-26-2005
Patrick McCullough says he's no vigilante, but when he was attacked by a group of young men, he shot one of them in the arm. MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND S.F. CHRONICLE/NO SALES - MAGS OUT Ran on: 03-04-2005
Patrick McCullough says it's too dangerous for him and his family to live in their Oakland home after he confronted reputed thugs. Ran on: 03-04-2005 Ran on: 04-02-2005
Stacy Hegler (left), shown in February with son Melvin McHenry, says she also plans to move away as soon as possible. Ran on: 04-08-2005
Daphne McCullough looks out her front window, where she put up a sign proclaiming her and her husband's intent to stay put. Metro#Metro#Chronicle#3/4/2005#ALL#5star##0422653512 less

mccullough_052_pc.jpg
Patrick McCullough at his home on 2/25/05 in Oakland, CA. McCullough has been single-handedly taking on drug dealers that ply their trade in front of his North Oakland home and was ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

Gunman running for council seat

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Some people consider Oakland resident Patrick McCullough a hero. In 2005, he made headlines when he shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy during a confrontation with a group of men outside his home.

To others, he is regarded as nothing more than a nutty vigilante who broke the law and used a gun to solve a problem.

Whatever side of the fence you sit on, McCullough is now a registered candidate for the District One seat on the Oakland City Council, which is now held by three-time incumbent Jane Brunner.

His platform? You guessed it - law and order. He wants a lot more police officers to fight violence in the city, where seven men were shot and killed this weekend.

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McCullough, a 52-year-old Chicago native, likens his campaign to that of presidential candidate Barack Obama, with just a dash of GOP front-runner John McCain tossed in.

"He's a maverick, and I'm a maverick," McCullough told me Monday, referring to Obama. "People in Oakland are so fed up with crime - and residents are hungry for solutions. They're saying they don't want to deal with this anymore."

McCullough, an electronics technician for the city of Berkeley who holds a law degree, is a political first-timer whose claim to fame came three years ago this month when he was surrounded by a group of 15 men outside his home on 59th Street near Shattuck Avenue.

Some members of the group, upset that McCullough had reported their activities to police, shouted "Kill the Snitch." McCullough fired when he said he saw teenager Melvin McHenry reaching for a gun in his waistband. He was never charged.

A year ago, a shotgun blast was fired through the McCulloughs' home as they returned from church services. Oakland police investigators said the shooting was in retaliation for the 2005 incident.

"I expect to see some people rally against me, and I'd tell them the same thing I would say to them if we spoke individually," he said. "My willingness to defend my life is only one part of me, but I've done it all my life and I will continue to do it."

McCullough spent much of his youth on Chicago's South Side in neighborhoods quite similar to Oakland's most rough-and-tumble streets. He joined the Navy after high school, served seven years and learned the skills he now employs in his Berkeley job.

He met his wife, Daphne, whom he calls the "real lioness" of the family, in night classes when they were law students at Golden Gate University. They have one son, Patrick, 11.

If he's elected, McCullough says he will push to immediately increase the number of police officers on Oakland streets by using city funds or a new tax measure to hire officers from other jurisdictions to create an initial three-year "surge" of up to 1,200 police officers.

Once crime rates are reduced to a manageable level, McCullough says, a police department of between 1,000 and 1,100 officers can provide an acceptable level of public safety. The city now has about 730 officers, and Mayor Ron Dellums has pledged to increase the force to 803 by year's end.

"We need an overwhelming force to contain the crime while working on the social programs that will affect the long-term goals," he said. "If you can't maintain safety in the streets, no one is going to want to pay for those programs."

On that point, McCullough is preaching to the choir when it comes to Oakland residents. One of the victims of this weekend's shootings was gunned down Friday afternoon on 58th Street, one block from McCullough's house.

About 12 hours later, McCullough's neighbors heard the distinct sound of automatic gunfire - as many as 40 rounds.

Whether you like McCullough's approach or not, he definitely has his finger on the pulse of what an increasing number of Oakland residents want the city to address immediately.

Brunner, the incumbent, says she knows very little about her challenger other than his brush with notoriety. She, too, said Oakland must find a way to fund a larger police force, but insists on fulfilling the requirements of voter-approved Measure Y before asking for more money.

Passed in 2004, Measure Y set the number of sworn police personnel at 803 and directed funding to police hiring and crime prevention programs.

She's been impressed with the city's new geographic-based police districts, and hopes to see some benefits. Brunner added that she's been one of the few council members who pushed Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker to come up with a long-term plan for police recruitment beyond the 803 officers mandated by the tax measure.

While she and the rest of the council waited, homicides rose 22 percent in her district, the safest in the city, between 2006 and 2007. "That's just not acceptable," she said.

McCullough agrees, but says Brunner's constituents have already waited long enough to see results that have never materialized. In addition to that, he doesn't want to see Brunner, or any other council member who is up for re-election, run unopposed, giving the appearance that residents are satisfied.

"I have to live here; I don't want to move and I'm tired of people making bad decisions that I've got to live with," McCullough said. "This is an area where I believe I can do something about it - something good.

"I have no real authority, but as a city official I'd use the bully pulpit - without being a bully - to make those changes," he said.